#A 'bad guy'/ villain wrestler

[metalhoops]

There are lots of modern aus with rockstar Eddie, and actor or professional sportsman Steve but I propose professional wrestler Steddie. I know this is niche, but hear me out. Wrestling is the perfect mix of sports (Steve) and drama/ camp (Eddie). 

You have a baby face Steve Harrington, who the crowd adores because he’s charismatic on the mic and not afraid to get a little bloody in his matches. Then you have heel Eddie who the crowd loves to hate. He’s got a Lost Boys-style vampire gimmick going on, heavy metal entrance music and has adopted the habit of walking in through the crowds. He’s amazing in tables matches and will take any opportunity to do a choke slam through the announce desk. 

The two don’t face each other in the ring often because Steve’s in a longtime feud with Billy Hargrove, whose a hell of a heel but downright dangerous in and out of the ring. He often refuses to sell for Steve and to make matters worse he’s a fan of not pulling his punches. 

Eddie and Steve don’t talk much in the locker rooms, they run in different circles and Eddie has the sneaking suspicion Steve is a stuck-up asshole (he’s not).  

They end up in a Royal Rumble match, where thirty-odd competitors get in a ring and fight to be the last one standing. Eddie’s sticking to the script. He keeps close to the guy he’s in a feud with until he catches Steve take a bump out of the corner of his eye. Billy’s on him and he’s not pulling his punches. Steve’s nose is gushing. The producers will be pissed because the T.V. network is getting squeamish about showing lots of blood. It’s not the 80s anymore. People don’t do that. 

Against his better judgment, Eddie decides to go off script. He takes Billy by surprise and manages to get him over the top rope. He wasn’t supposed to win anyway, so it wasn’t like they were going to dock his pay. He might get hazed in the locker room but that was a worry for another day. 

To Eddie’s surprise, Steve looks at him and shoots him a brilliant smile, his teeth filled with blood, his eyes shimmering with mischief. Someone tries to grapple with Eddie from behind but Steve intercepts, saving his ass. Eddie wasn’t meant to win the match either but he wanted as much airtime as he could get. He hates to admit it but he and Steve make a good team. Viewers seemed to agree. 

The next day Eddie is approached by his manager, telling him the higher-ups want him and Steve as a tag team. Which means one of two things. He and Steve were going to see a lot more of one another, and for once, Eddie was going to have to play the role of the good guy. It ends with them getting up way too close and personal in practice and pining hard over one another. 

[jonmcbrine-author]

These are the bad guy thoughts in my brain coming up with villain dialogue

[herzspalter]

Real things that happen in GI Joe

My best friend forced me to watch some GI Joe and here's a few insane things that happen in it:

Baroness is so upset over Destro talking to another girl that she burns down his entire family inherited Scottish castle, and he keeps her because she's a catch

The villains are fed up with Cobra Commander being an inept shit, so they create a new guy made up from the DNA of history's greatest monsters, and are surprised when he turns out to be an asshole

In the obligatory drug episode, Duke's brother and one of the rando villain's sister both get addicted to a made up drug. The villain is very concerned, gets official sick leave from the bad guys, visits her in the hospital and promises her his support no matter what. Duke, the good guy, on the other hand is so upset at his brother for having a drug problem that he basically disowns him and shames him, telling him he's no longer his brother. A real american hero right there

The drug episode ends with the drug manifacturer dying and exploding and a shot of his mangled hand with giant red letters on screen saying "DRUGS KILL"

They meet a shirtless guy shooting a commercial in the arctic who asks them if they're his camera team. He teams up with the Joes and we never see his actual camera team so I guess they died

Cobra Commander is revealed to actually be a snake person in the movie, it's incredibly bad

There's a guy named Snowjob

The entire show is disgustingly Too American, like you'd think that's obvious, but it's even more American than you'd initially think

The animation sucks and that's what kept me going, very funny

Sgt. Slaughter is in this. The wrestler. He's just in this as himself, he says every line like a wrestling promo, he's the most powerful being in the show, it's a rampant self insert and it's kinda amazing

[totallyboatless]

I will truly find it so funny if Orange starts slowly wearing his lighter wash pants and jacket regularly until he’s back to his original getup, and then refers casually to his “villain era” and everyone is like ????? And he’s like “what why are you looking at me like that, i was wearing black? I was obviously a bad guy?”

My boyfriend thinks i am a sweet summer child who hasn’t had his heart broken enough yet by wrestler betrayal arcs, but i stand by it would be hilarious for OC’s heel turn to be so low effort that no one noticed

[x7mafiadetective7x]

analysis and excitement time!! tottmnt style! spoilers for the new trailer and me picking it apart 😋 ☆

i’m not exactly trying to figure everything out, even though i have theories and lots of analysis in my noggin about the who, why, what, when, and where (especially in regards to their location when seperated.)

i’m mostly just going to cover: what the turtles are going through, what’s going on with the krang/Cynthia Utrom/Bishop, and any easter eggs or potential characters we see.

let’s start off with Bishop! cuz oh my god, if they’re going to be the first opponent the turtles face, i can’t imagine the lead up to shredder.

im used to Bishop being a super climactic, build-up to the big bad thing that’s going to happen kinda character, so i’m kind of surprised to see them being used first. especially as an immediate villain!

the FIRST thing that catches my eye is the robot-cams on the turtles, presumably when they’re separated, and the big screen telling Bishop to ‘RETURN TO BASE’ — i have theories about their tie to Cynthia Utrom, but we know Bishop was a rebellious character against the utrom/krang throughout other gens so i don’t think it’s telling them to return to Utrom— unless they’ve freshly gone rogue to try to stop Cynthia’s plans (hence why they wanna get rid of mutants.)

the robots Bishop uses remind me heavily of ROTTMNT.. especially that one on the left! we see more being possibly made to the right, and that kind of clues me into it being a factory of sorts.

we also see them take over the city moments after their reveal!

the turtles look like they’re all back together and donned in robot parts. Raph is wearing a faux wrestler’s padding, Leo in some sort of samurai get-up, Donnie in a cyborg cosplay, and i’m not entirely sure what Mikey’s trying to look like, other than ‘i’m gonna beat your ass.’

this kind of reminds me of Shredder! maybe it’s just the metal, sharper weapons, and the way Raph’s holding his dual sai..

i don’t think we get enough turtles in armor at all. in 2012 we barely got to see their noir armor when fighting the shredder, and imo it was super hardcore!! so i’m happy to find that they’ve added this to TOTTMNT.

time to analyze what is happening to our fave terrapins!!

what we know: they’ve all been transported to different locations/dimensions, they’ve been separated, and know that they can find each other.

let’s start with mikey’s situation, since we’re introduced to it from the beginning of the trailer via voice-over.

my idea is that he’s been transported somewhere in the future, and he’s with some scientist that knows them all by name— and gimmick. he tried to recreate a mutant, and that’s why we see a Pigeon Pete look alike.

besides that, he rags on Mikey for not having a ‘thing’ like his brothers while following him around. (people r always underestimating him — even in-show.. cannot catch a break i swear) i’m not sure if this rando has a destination, but it looks like Mikey does!!

we also see Raph with the purple dragons, and a MOTORCYCLE!! i MISSED motorcycle Raph so bad.

He is also shown in a barn with two other characters in a seperate trailer, but I have no idea who those guys could be.

Raph seems less concerned with finding each brother unlike Donnie.

Donnie opens up with a ‘I have to find my brothers, I have to save them!’ which is SUPER. cool TO ME. we got such little protective Donnie in other gens and i’m super excited to see his stress level rise in TOTTMNT.

it looks like he’s forced to un-hack what Bishop’s done to New York’s devices (unsure if this is all devices, or just all important systems like train stations and billboards/adverts.)

ALL while there’s robots after him. UGH. i can’t wait to write major angst about this kid.

unfortunately, for me at least, we see the least of Leonardo.

what we DO see of him is mostly combat, and quips. i’m super humored by the failed confidence which is a super different from most Leo’s!! (2012 Leo hero-quipping because he wants to be one, Rise Leo passing the charisma check 24/7, and 2003 Leo not really giving af as much so he just sounds dorky and cool whenever.) he looks like he’s fighting multiple robots in different areas, unlike Donnie who we only see in a train station, and Raph we see fighting multiple things (people and robots.)

i hope he gets to have as many badass moments as Donnie and Raph seem to have, because i’m afraid of him turning into ‘generic leader personality’ SO BAD. i dont think he will, but i’m not ready for him to be pushed aside during fights like how Mikey and Donnie was in 2012 at first, just so he can be the main star in relationship issues and stuff.. BUT i do think we will get a huge chunk of ‘i can’t do this without my brothers’ angst!!

we also get a glimpse of April and Leo interaction which i was the MOST scared of!! it looks like it takes place in a different episode than the Bishop one, along with the trailer where they’re all in halloween costumes (or party costumes???)

i cannot wait for this little party mix up. it’s super teenagery sounding and i always wanted more teenage, slice of life-ish (i don’t think we will ever get a filler without some slicing and dicing) episodes in tmnt!!

anyways. thanks for reading if you’ve gotten this far! tottmnt seems a bit more childish than past gens but i’m sorta excited for it!! august 9th here we come ^_^

[wrestlingisfake]

Why are you booing me? I'm right!

If you're worried about who's the babyface/heel in the Hangman Page/Swerve Strickland feud, keep in mind that "babyface" doesn't exactly mean "good guy" or "hero," and "heel" doesn't exactly mean "bad guy" or "villain."

The bottom line is that AEW decided to do a double-turn back in February, and the live crowds have (generally speaking) bought into it. Arguing that Swerve's actions were indefensible, or that Page's retaliation is justifiable, is beside the point. What matters is that fans want to cheer for Swerve and boo for Hangman. The question isn't whether either character deserves that reaction, but why they're receiving it.

Swerve's face turn is subtle, but clear. When Hangman complained that he lost the first two matches due to interference, Swerve didn't have to tell Nana to stay out of the third match, but he did anyway. When the match went to a draw, Swerve wanted more five more minutes, just like the fans. When both of them failed to beat Samoa Joe for the world title, Swerve didn't waste time with excuses and grudges--he just focused on getting another chance to beat the heel and win the big one. These are all things fans appreciate, even if you're a total scoundrel. Fans like wrestlers who want to do something cool, and then get it done.

Page's heel turn is more nuanced than the typical routine of "I'm Blair St. Claire, and I'm a bad girl now!" He's right to be angry about what Swerve did to his family, but (in kayfabe) his family can't possibly be better off living with his all-consuming obsession. He's right to be frustrated that he hasn't defeated Swerve in the ring, but that attitude has only hurt his win-loss record and made it harder to avenge those defeats. It's understandable that he wants revenge, but that does not justify what he's done to various people who innocently happened to be between him and Swerve. More crucially, nothing Page can do to Strickland on September 7 is going to solve any of these problems. Fans generally turn on wrestlers who can't get the job done, or interfere with the wrestlers who can.

In light of that, Swerve's crimes and Hangman's crimes actually start to seem fairly different. I'm not trying to make excuses for Swerve here, but realistically no one got hurt when he left a T-shirt in that crib. He wanted to play mindgames heading into the match, it worked perfectly, and he knew he wasn't going to hurt anybody (except Page, later, in the ring). On the other hand, Hangman had no way of knowing--and clearly couldn't care less--if his arson might get some innocent person killed. And for what? Even if he wins the match, it won't fill the void Swerve carved out of his soul last year. For better or worse, Hangman can't really win as long he's consumed with vengeance--all of his actions are ultimately self-defeating. And people want to root for a winner.

[pivsketch]

Salamander Salazar is an acrobatic high flyer "evil mastermind thief guy" and Bandit Bandit is his henchman/bodyguard/muscle. They were mischievous heels that would always be causing trouble, but just like any quality comical villain bad guy, Salazar's hubris would usually get him in over his head and be his downfall.

Here's them doing a tag team move™:

Anyway these are all several years before the events of the story. Salazar is Taggart's tag partner that had to leave midway through the tournament! He's also his childhood friend/mentor too.

under the cut is more lore/backstory stuff:

Salamander Salazar is the older neighborhood kid that got Taggart into wrestling when Taggart was just a lil kid. Salazar taught him how to (pro) wrestle over the years and after Taggart turned 18, Sal mysteriously started having a new sidekick/henchman he'd do tag team matches with.

Winning the TAGCEN tournament gets you qualified for the "big prestigious semi-invitational continental tag team tournament" where all the best tag teams compete to see who is The Absolute Best. Salazar's biggest claim to fame was the one time he stole the TAGCEN tournament first place medals from the true champions* and used them to enter into the invitational. The resulting shenanigans were fun enough that it led to the rules being changed to make the TAGCEN qualification entirely based on physically possessing those winning medals lol. (TAGCEN is partially ran by someone who loves chaos, after all.)

It made things pretty wild and chaotic for a few years after, but people stopped taking advantage of this over the years and nowadays its a mostly forgotten edge-case type rule. Also btw Sal (and Bandit²) got their asses absolutely trounced in the invitational tournament. If they couldn't win a qualifier, of course they wouldn't be able to survive in the big leagues!!

Bandit Bandit's tenure only lasted 3 short years for whatever reason (concidentally, this was around the same time regular good guy solo wrestler Taggart left wrestling to help out at his parents' bakery, hmm) and Salazar forged onwards on his own. Over the years his mischievous ambitions have mellowed out and he became one of those sarcastic good guy antihero types.

In modern times, Salazar reentered the TAGCEN tournament with a better tag team partner: Taggart, his childhood friend/protege that had recently returned to wrestling. His goal was to win the TAGCEN tourney outright and then go on to win the big invitational, redeeming himself for that failed run several years prior. They were absolutely killing it, but then Salazar got a really good offer from a major overseas promotion he couldn't turn down, and had to leave midway through the TAGCEN tournament. Alas! Salazar's tag team story is left unrealized!

Taggart still gets to wrestle in the remaining round robin matches at least. But, cmon, it's not like anything interesting is going to happen with that, right...? hee hee 🙂

* the winning tag team ended up with a injury right before the invitational and could not compete, and this was way more fun of an alternative than just having an empty slot!

[bisexual-kane]

One particularly obnoxious strand of bad AEW discourse is that Tony Khan is some kind of tyrant booker who forces wrestlers into spots/storylines/promos that are dangerous/uncomfortable.

(Kenny taking bumps Wednesday and Ospreay's shot at Triple H come to mind.)

I may be wrong, but at one time, AEW didn't really function like WWE where Vince dictated everything. Instead, wrestlers pitched their own ideas and Tony gave them a thumbs up or thumbs down.

It's kind of why a lot of WWE refugees like Andrade El Idolo felt like they didn't do much. Without Triple H/Vince dictating a story, what were they to do? Malachi Black in particular totally has the vibes of a guy who has really, really cool ideas--but they are ideas and not stories, so despite House of Black being heavily featured, it feels like they never do anything.

Meanwhile, The Elite (and all of their friends/hangers-on/dick riders) have spent a lot of time developing their own characters and improv skills through New Japan, ROH, PWG, and (I cannot emphasize this enough) BTE. Jon Moxley in particular when he bailed on WWE talked up a lot about how he wanted the freedom to improv promos and that he didn't need a script because that ain't wrestling to him. You can also see people like Christian Cage and Adam Copeland (and even Chris Jericho), who left WWE by choice who are really excited to be in AEW because they get a chance to flex creative muscles they didn't get to in WWE and they are doing really interesting and cool things.

(I mean, I know we are all sour on Chris Jericho right now in 2024, but Inner Circle Jericho was a really great heel champion.)

Again, I am totally just an outside fan who has no inner knowledge. But at least at one point, AEW was trying to be a more collaborative environment. Tony Khan has final say about what goes on the show, but the talent themselves are doing a lot of pitching the ideas about what ends up on it.

Like, Tony is not making Will Ospreay go out there and take shots at Triple H against his will. Stop making up a villain in your head, people. jeeze.

[dalekofchaos]

It's really fucking gross to watch Jon Moxley get all this praise for cosplaying and outright quoting a Neo Nazi character.

I trust dipshit writers about as much as I can throw them. But I asked a friend who's actually seen the movie if he can see any comparisons between the movie and Moxley's new gimmick. He says it's 100% the same thing.

At first I thought this was a sort of Fight Club type character. Mox and Marina as a duo and even the BCC implosion was a good idea. Then I heard what Mox was basing his character on and the promo from last night...

I'm not saying Moxley has any racist beliefs, but why would you choose Romper Stomper as your inspiration for a wrestling gimmick in today's political climate and why would he think this is a good idea? How does no one else that works there thinks not to speak up about how dumb this is? If people start quoting Nazi/Fascist rhetoric because they think Mox's group are "bad ass heels" that is just going to blow up in everyone's faces.

If his only reasoning for choosing this inspiration because he thinks it's "badass" Jon, there is nothing badass about Nazis. I don't care if you personally like the movie or found the character to be intriguing, but there is nothing badass about fucking Nazis. You are a father and you work with POC and LGBTQ+ people. Do better.

Look, I'm all for using movies for inspiration for your wrestling gimmick, but in what fucking world do you think using this in 2024 for a wrestling gimmick is a good idea? Why do you think no one's used American History X in the last 20 years? BECAUSE IT'S A FUCKING STUPID IDEA!(I don't want to hear it's been done on the indies, it's a stupid fucking idea to even entertain the thought of basing your gimmick on a fucking Neo Nazi)

I'm sorry, but unless they do a complete 180 and change direction of where this story is going, I have completely lost respect in Jon Moxley as a professional wrestler and as a person.

There are plenty of other movies or characters that are villains that AREN'T FUCKING NAZIS to take inspiration from. Sometimes you should not let some people in wrestling to be creative and sometimes you should keep some ideas in your head and not tell them you want to do a fucking Nazi character in 2024.

Final notes. The dipshit who wrote the gross and disgusting Katie Vick storyline pitched that Heidenreich be a frozen Nazi unthawed and Managed by Paul Heyman(who is Jewish) once….

Vince McMahon just stood up and left the creative meeting

If a Nazi character is too much for that rapist racist Vince fucking McMahon 20 years ago, what does that say about your company? Tony be a fucking boss and learn to say fucking no.

There's a fucking reason why Nazi characters were used mainly in the old territory days and not in the modern world of wrestling.

Shame on Jon Moxley for even thinking this was a good idea for a character. Shame on Tony Khan for even greenlighting this idea and shame on anyone at AEW for not telling Mox and Tony what a stupid fucking idea this is.

Update. Last night Jon and Claudio beat down Private Party. Bald white dudes inspired by a neo Nazi movie beating the Black guys up huh? That certainly is a booking choice. This is not a good look.

[mashangels]

Cool, you're doing you're part by harassing people and fear-mongering them into never playing this game for "the safety of the LGBTQ+ and Jewish community"

I'm not saying there aren't problematic things in the game...in fact I think the main villain you're suppose to be fighting is not a good villain purely because inequality is not a good reason to have those characters be the bad guy.

I'm just saying, banning this game is not helping me in any way personally.

My church is still going to be attacked just because it's pro LGBTQ. As of today, we are investigating who keeps attacking us in the middle of the night and if they're the same person who harrassed my priest into leaving.

I'm still going to hear my friends being harassed/beaten up and worried about their safety.

I'm still going to shake in rage over the many stories I slowly hear about one of my favorite wrestlers getting (and still getting) antisemitic threats.

And this hatetrain is gonna last, what, 2-3 weeks to a couple of months at the most? And then...

Nothing.

The reason why it blew up so loudly because it's easier to spoil and harass people through a computer screen. But I feel like under no circumstances should you harass people.

But then again, look what website I'm talking to.

This is a literal witchhunt, and I honestly feel like in the future, this is going to end up in me being hurt/dead in the crossfire.

[risingshards]

Sting's final match was so so SO perfect. For the guy who'd always lose when asked and got booked to be such a goober over his career and got such a shitshow wwe run...to see that guy get such a triumphant good defeats evil close to his career, to see him get an undefeated streak in aew....ugh. It's wondeful.

Sting is a wrestler that's really important to me. I didn't watch in like peak 90s wrestling times, but I remember when my brother made a CAW of Sting in HCTP that my 10 year old self was like "that is the coolest wrestler ever." and it took until TNA in january 2006 when he debuted on final resolution, the first wrestling ppv I ever convinced my family to order teaming with my all time #1 wrestler Christian Cage (ty to christian for being genuinely such a nice person to me) for me to be like "oh my god stings fucking awesome?!?!"

In 2014 I had a really shitty life situation. and it fucked me up and I was rocked completely and lost. And I retreated to my partner's house at the time and wrapped myself up in blankets and put on survivor series and sting showed up in wwe. and in all the maelstrom of my life i got to escape for a second and be like. "ok. sting is here. things will be okay. justice will be served." and that was incredibly comforting to me. sting's wwe run endied up being fucking terrible and like my thirtieth "oh god wwe sucks and is horrific for my mental wellbeing" thing. but that debut pulled me away from the bad times.

flash forward to 2020. and the shitty life situation repeated itself like shot for shot. i was lost again. and wouldn't you know it, sting debuts in aew like a day after it happened. and i got to escape again. justice would be served. the good guys win in the end. thankfully, sting's aew run would be so much better than the wwe one and was so so perfect.

so today's very emotional for me. a maybe childish (?) part of me is like "if that thing happens again what do we do if sting doesnt show up and make it feel alright?" but the way sting got to defeat the bad guys one more time, to fight against evil (against the young bucks who were deliciously perfect villains for sting and darby) and to WIN, to not go out like old yeller like every other wrestler retirement angle, is so important to me. sting go to be a fucking real life superhero fighting against evil in the wacky unreal world of wrestling, and helped me through the bullshit, and makes me want to keep fighting in spite of everything. wrestling is silly and weird and seen as fucking stupid bullshit to many who don't watch, but fucking hell I dunno if i'd be here without it, and without people like sting being those kinds of heroes who make the fight worth it. so thank you sting, for everything.

[euniexenoblade]

Hello, I hope this isn't inappropriate of me to ask but do you have any advice for a soon-to-be domme? I'm meeting up with a fellow trans women soon (I'm also a trans women) and she has some taboo scenes she wants to play out that aren't too physically intense (probably just holding her in place) but she wants me to say some really mean things to her, and while I know it's what she wants (We've rp'd a time or two and those went well) I worry about actually doing all of that in person. She's fine with taking things slow, but I also want to play out these scenes with her and am just lacking in confidence. Also any advice for anal? Sorry to toss that in at the end. If you'd rather answer this in private, I'm open to dm's. Thank you for your time, hope your hike is fun!

Did you ever want to be an actor when growing up? Get to be someone else for a few hours at a time and make people happy? There was a point where I was legitimately looking to pursue being a wrestler. I am an absolute troll, and the idea of being a villain was so appealing. I didn't want to be the good guy who got cheered, I wanted to be the bad guy that pissed everyone off, that scared everyone, that gave the hero something to overcome.

Doming is being the bad guy wrestler. It is not who you truly are, it's a character, a gimmick, a work. You are a dungeon master, you are making a story and deciding how it changes based on your players actions and rolls.

Being mean in these instances isn't actually being mean, it's a story! Be an author, be an artist, say some fucked up shit. If she doesn't like it, that's what a safe word is for. Get some confidence girl, the hottest feature a Dom can have to a sub is confidence - and it's easily faked if you get experienced.

Look at it like that. See if that helps you at all.

As for anal, condoms for a first time. There's the sti element, but also easier to clean up. Not shaming you if you go raw tho, that's fun as hell, I just like to start with condoms unless raw is specifically discussed. Lube. Use plenty of lube. Go slow. Have your sub talk to you, there shouldn't be pain.

Good luck!

[doctor-badadvice]

Let's talk about Fast Forward for a bit.

Specifically I want to talk about the main theme of that season: why? Why did the art style deteriorate so much? Why did the writing get so bad? Why did this come out before season 5 but also supposedly happens after season 5 and at the same time only occasionally acknowledges its events? Why is there a kid now? Why am I watching this when I only really care about maybe three episodes at best?

Because I was bored. But let's go with order.

I'm going to say it now, I'm still going to claim there is no season 6 in Ba Sing Se. But at the same time, it isn't all that bad actually?

Here's the thing. FF was inevitable for many reasons. TMNT, with its aliens and magic, has the potential to go on forever. However, at some point "turtle fatigue" will set in. In the 80s, this happened around season 7 which yeah, it's about 150 episodes in. For the 2003 show it happens around season 5 but this doesn't mean the higher-ups will try stupid changes to bring back the old glory.

Moreover, the show brought it upon itself. The main culprits, so to speak, are the writing's insistence on portraying consequences as much as possible (see: Leo's scarred shell for instance), as well as season 4 with its funny gory shift (see: that one episode where Baxter watches his own body fall apart which wow).

So it isn't unexpected that the higher-ups and especially the toy maker went "Kids, could you lighten up a little?" and messed up everything that was good about the show.

So this is basically why I don’t like FF. Five seasons are a long commitment. You have to sit through the ninja tribunal arc which is boring as hell, then have to be really patient and accept that there are just dragons now for some reason. Then FF comes up and it has nothing of what you previously enjoyed. The style is different, too flat and kinda clunky and ugly in some spots, nothing that happened before matters and now Cody is there.

Remember networks, kids don't want to watch other kids go on adventures in their place and it doesn't get better with age. But you do you.

So I despised FF but after rewatching the season on its own, I have to make amends in some spots.

The general impression when you watch FF on its own, without the better stuff still fresh in mind and with something to do during the dull parts, is that of good background noise.

It takes many steps backwards. The turtles are suddenly less competent at fighting where it's convenient, their personalities are more one dimensional depending on the plot and they're kinda shitty to each other for no reason. They really suffer from that serial effect where the reset button is hit as soon as the credits roll. They used to go out to murder the Shredder knowing they might die and now it's "Today Mikey really wants a new video game and next episode we're going to a fancy party with the kid dressed in the dumbest suits ever and a silly happens :)"

Splinter also gets sidetracked a lot and he's more there to occasionally call the turtles whippersnappers but again, there isn't much of a reason for him to step in anymore.

And this brings me to the villains. I feel like the turtles only work as well as their villains. They work when they're getting into a fight with a local street gang, or trying to kick an alien empire out of the planet before everyone dies. They work when the Shredder actually does something meaningful and generally speaking are going against someone actually dangerous.

The first five seasons had Shredder, the Foot, Hun, the Triceratons and Bishop. FF has an annoying wrestler whose main priority is property damage, a gang of netrunners who I wish got up to more interesting things than scalping and quoting the Matrix, literal evil twins from the tv trope literal evil twins, and the idiots in charge.

The idiots in charge are of course beloved uncle Darius and Sh'Okanabo.

These two really are something. Darius is essentially that guy from the first Iron Man movie. He's the acting CEO because the owner is a literal child. He smiles and preaches big keeping up the facade of benevolent company of the shiny Earth utopia but he has a dark secret which is that he's making guns and a mecha suit for himself and Cody takes several episodes to realize this for some reason.

You'd think Darius would stop being a threat the moment his dark deeds are uncovered since his whole thing is "evil capitalist guy is evil". But no, he's gonna go higher, he's going to ally with Shittibobo because he needs new genetically modified minions he can badmouth while fucking around all day in his sewers loft and we don't even get the payoff of Darius realizing that he's being fucked over by an alien during the Day of Awakening.

Plus because of how afraid FF is to explore anything heavier than Mikey insisting they go out to achieve explosive diarrhea from questionable junk food, even the fact that Darius is an abusive father figure for Cody has no real importance because Cody is only allowed to look sad on screen for five seconds. Remove Darius and the overall season arc remains the same.

What about the other guy? Well, Sushibooboo is the supposed big bad of the season. He's an alien who wants to kill life on Earth to steal resources. He's something beloved President Bishop goes out of his way to personally murder. But the only thing he achieves is to confirm that he's just offensively stupid.

Sh'Okanabo is supposedly an alien boogeyman who's so evil he just can't be real, right? Unfortunately, he's the literal cause of his own demise.

Since the turtles are more than content with babysitting Cody and going around complaining about historical accuracies like that one Futurama episode, they don't know who Sh'Okanabo is and after talking to Bishop they don't care to find out. Great. This means he can operate in the dark, grow his eggs and prepare to kill everyone, right? No way. In pure Sasalele style, he goes out of his way to attack the turtles, tell them what he’s up to and scare them enough to start to actively prepare to fight him.

And on top of that he wastes time to build a time machine because somehow Shredder had to return for one episode which in turn almost fucks up his plan entirely since his ship almost explodes.

So I still don't like FF because of the way the writing plummeted. A lot of stuff happens because it's convenient and often falls back into exquisitely 90s/2000s tropes (see: the obviously evil guy gets away with evil deeds because the parents/cops/people with power are blind and children are stupid, that one car race episode which is a repeat of the previous car race episode from earlier in the show, a female character who's only there to be a love interest and is allowed to be smart and cute because Cody likes them smart and cute, just to name a few). The turtles get dumber depending on the episode and there are some attempts at comedy like Starlee's shitty family that give out levels of second hand embarrassment not seen since Star Trek TNG.

But I don't hate this season entirely either. FF is just very mid and it makes me think that it could have worked as a standalone show for a while because you can watch it more or less. I'm just this isn't what we got in place of the actual show because it wouldn’t have lasted.

Still I did enjoy some things:

Torbin Zixx is fun. He has some interesting tricks, even though 60% of them only work because the turtles are written especially stupid in his episodes. Plus he steals Bishop's space shuttle which is glorious

I ended up liking Sterling a little towards the end. I still feel like his humor is a sanitized version of Baxter's but I like that he collects clips of the turtles getting hurt to watch to calm down and that he's actually always ready to throw hands

President Bishop is so stupid, yet brilliant (and I'm going to talk about him in a separate post because the worldbuilding is really something and I have OPINIONS)

Raph commenting that power armors are so last season while fighting Darius made me chuckle even though I won't tolerate this supersuit slander

This moment:

[chernobog13]

SUPERARGO vs. DIABOLICUS (1966)

What do you get when you mix masked wrestlers, spies, superheroes, and a total disregard for logic and common sense?

This crazy flick, featuring a hero who is equal parts Santo, James Bond, and Batman. I first discovered this bizarre Italian/Spanish co-production on New York City's Channel 5 Saturday movies at noon (where I first encountered the Starman series of films) when I was a wee lad. So many, many, many years ago.

German lobby card for Superargo Versus Diabolicus. The German title translates to The Red Phantom Strikes.

Superargo is a masked wrestler, like Mexico's Santo. In fact, he's the World Champion, having one 123 matches in a row. Also like Santo, he never removes his mask. However, where Santo will wear suits and regular clothes with his mask, Superargo NEVER takes his costume off.

Superargo's girlfriend, Lydia, encouraging her sweetie to mow down some bad guys.

In the opening of the film Superargo is in the wrestling ring defending his title from the vicious El Tigre. Superargo defeats El Tigre by throwing him out of the ring. However, El Tigre lands on his head and dies. Wracked with guilt, Superargo quits and spends the next several days moping about his house - still in his mask and costume!

Diabolicus preparing to torture Superargo.

His girlfriend, Lydia, can't stand to see him in such a state. She puts Superargo in touch with an old friend, who is now in charge of the Secret Service. Seems there's a problem with some villain named Diabolicus that the Service needs help with, and Superargo is just the man they need.

It's then that we learn that Superargo is not just any masked wrestler. He has greater-than-normal strength; super stamina; his blood coagulates super fast, so wounds heal almost instantaneously; he can hold his breath for longer than 7 minutes; he is immune to extreme hot and cold; and he can regulate his blood pressure to stay normal even under great exertion. He is vulnerable to electricity (aren't we all?) but, while it can hurt him, it can't kill him.

He is also allergic to bullets. So the Secret Service outfits him with a new, bulletproof costume, as well as several gadgets typical of the spy movies of the day, including a Geiger counter disguised as a cocktail olive! To sweeten the deal, they also throw in a nifty new sports car. Then Superargo is sent on his way to track down and stop Diabolicus' mad plan for world domination.

"What is that plan?" you ask.

Well, in a nutshell, Diabolicus had discovered a way to turn base metals into gold. He then wants to flood the markets with the gold, destroying the world economy and bringing civilization to its knees.

There is just one problem: in order to make the fake gold Diabolicus needs plutonium. Lots and lots of plutonium. Hence the martini olive.

No, Superargo's not trippin' on LSD. This is part of the bizarre credit sequence at the beginning of the film.

After that, the film follows the typical Eurospy movie formula: car chases, fights, beautiful dames, fights, the hero confronting the villain on his secret island base, the hero fights the hordes of villainous minions, and the secret villain headquarters getting blowed up.

Let's be clear about one thing: this ain't no cinematic masterpiece. But it is an amusing, entertaining little flick. And it contains two things things that give it extra panache: a totally whacked-out opening credit sequence that is kinds disturbing to watch, and the absolute worst secret island headquarters miniature you'll probably ever see. I think the director's kid made it in an afternoon and filmed it in the family pool.

It's worth checking out if you're in the mood for some superhero silliness. Last time I checked it was streaming on Amazon, and there's a blurry version of Youtube.

[kmarie-experience21]

The Fourhorsewomen of WWE

This is so random but I needed to tell someone lol. Each fourhorsewomen has had a huge impact on wwe women’s division and the evolution of women’s wrestling in general. Some could say they were the front runners other could that Paige, AJ Lee, Trish, Lita were the ones who started it and paved the way but the fourhorsewomen achieved what those named individuals did not and that’s bring full attention to women’s wrestling in wwe and elevated to new heights. As someone who is still young only 20 and been watching wwe since I was a kid not just current things but dvds of old matches etc I could say that I have never actually been interested in watching women’s wrestling sure I had my favs but I was never fully intrigued until the fourhorsewomen who careers and legacy within the wwe will forever be intertwined.

Bayley: Bayley's legacy is characterized by her ability to connect with fans through her unique character work. She demonstrated that a compelling character arc can be as influential as in-ring skills, leaving a lasting impact on how women's wrestling is presented.Bayley's versatility shines as both a face and a heel. As a face, her lovable and relatable persona resonates with fans, emphasizing themes of friendship and perseverance. As a heel, Bayley's transformation showcases her ability to manipulate and break away from her wholesome image, adding depth to her character and creating compelling storylines. Bayley's impact lies in her adaptability, successfully portraying diverse roles and keeping her character fresh and engaging.

Sasha banks: Sasha's legacy is likely to be centered around her contributions to pushing boundaries in women's wrestling. Her innovative in-ring style, coupled with her impactful storylines, has helped pave the way for increased opportunities and recognition for women in the industry.Sasha Banks as a heel brings a captivating edge to her character. Her ruthless and cunning demeanor, combined with her in-ring prowess, makes her a compelling antagonist. Heel Sasha disrupts the status quo, adding unpredictability and excitement to storylines. You either love her as the bad guy or you love to hate her cause she’s one of the best heels. Her impact lies in creating intense rivalries, elevating the overall narrative of the women's division.

charlotte flair: Charlotte's legacy will likely be defined by her unprecedented championship success, athleticism, and the role she played in elevating the women's division to new heights. She has set a standard for excellence and showcased the potential for women to headline major events.Charlotte Flair as a heel (villain) leans into her legacy as Ric Flair's daughter. As a dominant and entitled character, Heel Charlotte is adept at garnering heat from the audience. Her impact is evident in her ability to generate strong reactions, contributing to the storytelling dynamics within the women's division.

Becky lynch: Becky's legacy will likely be marked by her trailblazing journey from an underdog to "The Man." Her resilience, charisma, and ability to connect with the audience have not only elevated her career but have also inspired future generations of female wrestlers to pursue their dreams fearlessly.Becky is characterized by her resilience and charisma. Her ability to connect with the audience on a personal level, coupled with her never-give-up attitude, has made her a fan favorite and a driving force in the women's division.Becky Lynch as a face (good guy) is characterized by her resilience, relatability, and the ability to rally fan support. The "Lass Kicker" persona resonates with audiences, showcasing her as a tenacious underdog. Face Becky's impact is seen in her ability to inspire and connect emotionally with fans. When she “attempted” to turn heel her rebellious attitude only made the fans love her more turning her into a beloved figure in the wrestling world.

the fourhorsewomen could be compared to specific male wwe superstars. In other words counterparts.

Sasha Banks as Eddie Guerrero: Drawing comparisons to Eddie Guerrero suggests Sasha's versatility, charisma, and the ability to deliver memorable performances. And her heel work despite being the bad guy makes her a fan favorite and gets people on her side. Charlotte Flair as Ric Flair: Charlotte, being Ric Flair's daughter, naturally carries elements of his flamboyant and championship-driven persona. Her athleticism and championship success reflect the legacy of her Hall of Fame father.

Becky lynch as Stone Cold: Likening Becky to Stone Cold Steve Austin emphasizes her rebellious and anti-establishment character, as well as her ability to connect with the audience on a visceral level.

Bayley: This one could be up for debate I’ve seen her be compared to John cena which honestly I think I would say Bianca Belair is more like the John cena of the women’s division anyway. For Bayley i say Shawn Michaels, Bayley's comparison to Shawn Michaels may highlight her storytelling ability, in-ring skills, and the capacity to engage fans emotionally, similar to Michaels' impact on the male wrestling landscape.

Now on too the complex relationship/rivalry/partnership of the Fourhorsewomen. This would be a lot so imma just mention two which are considered two of the best women’s rivalry in history. But I will say this the fourhorsewomen can be considered a dysfunctional group of sisters whom all want to be the best and make a name for themselves even if that means having to knock down each other with any means necessary.

Sasha Banks & Bayley: From Nxt to the main roster they went from friends or potential friends to enemies to best friends to enemies. Their chemistry and in ring storytelling is one of the best I have ever seen. Not to mention the amount of history they have made alongside each other. They are truly wrestling soulmates. This is how I would explain this story 2 wrestlers who were similar and started around the same time with Bayley staying true to who they were and the other (Sasha) having to change to find success and the resentment one had for the other leading to many classic matches in the Sasha Bayley saga. Sasha and Bayley relationship can be described as to sisters with one goal to be the best, despite the history they have made together the spotlight isn’t always big enough for two. From classic heel vs face to becoming besties to the betrayals than women tag champs to double champs to betrayal again. A complex long term storytelling that will go down in history as one of the best. Ps: I still want my Sasha vs bayley at wrestlemania to end the saga).

Charlotte & Becky Lynch: there is no doubt that their off screen heat contributed to their on screen rivalry. From enemies to best friends on the main roster Becky and Charlotte gave us many matches the most memorable and best one in my opinion being their last woman standing match at evolution. As best friends you can tell that Charlotte cared more about her own success then anything including her friendship with Becky. As Becky said, she would always say she wanted me to do good but never wanted me to do better than her, to paraphrase. At some point Becky had to make a choice and she chose her Self wanting to get out of the shadow of her friend Charlotte. When she attacked Charlotte at summer slam (heel attempt) it catapulted her career making her one of the biggest faces in wwe. Becky from going from underdog to a rebellious force challenged flair in a way she wasn’t expecting it and would eventually lead to them making history in the first ever wrestlemania women main event in history. This rivalry would continue for years with many hoping that one day they would reconcile.

These four have truly elevated storytelling, in ring psychology and so much more with one another. Sure some may like one more than others and one or two may have more flaws and things we dislike about them having to do with character growth lol cough cough Charlotte. There is no doubt though that their success are intertwined. Even if I think two are more overlooked then the other two (I will forever be salty about that) no one can doubt the history and contributions to women’s wrestling(some more than others lol) they have made not just in wwe but specifically for Sasha banks outside of wwe that I haven’t even mentioned but we all know. I feel with time and care in the storytelling if Sasha banks was to ever return the storied history of the fourhorsewomen can culminate in a fatal four way at wrestlemania which is long overdue but with the successes they have achieved throughout their careers and their character evolutions will add to more depth to the story.

Memorable quotes

It’s not a story, it’s destiny” -Bayley (2024) (Wins Royal rumble for first time in her career to main event wrestlemania for first time in her career joining the other three horsewoman with that accolade) hopefully!!! She better main event I’m not playing

“I am Sasha banks and my name is bigger than your title” -Sasha Banks (2020)

(Beats bayley in hell in a cell ending bayley historic 380 day reign and winning her first smackdown women’s title)

“There is no man without the Queen” -Charlotte (2019) 

(Charlotte went on to face Becky 2 belts at money in the bank beating Becky for smackdown women title)

“No one is taking my dream away from me.. the one thing that I don’t have anymore, doubt.” - Becky Lynch (2019)

(Becky went to main event wrestlemania in triple threat making history by winning a winner take all for the raw and smackdown women's championship)

[shychick-52]

So, in the EPCOT interactive game DuckTales World Showcase Adventure, there are seven countries with a different mystical artifact- the Seven Plunders of the World- hidden in each one. It’s basically a scavenger hunt, and the player (‘Adven-sharer’, as the Ducks call them) looks for clues to help the Ducks find each treasure and thwart a variety of villains from stealing them. The enemies are a mix of regular/recurring villains and one-time villains from certain episodes. The seven countries in the game are Mexico, Norway, Germany, France, Japan, and China.

When I watched all the videos of them on YouTube, I was delighted to learn that Gyro and Fenton are in the game too! They aren’t in every country/mission, though- Gyro is in the France mission and Fenton is in the Japan mission.

…I was shocked that Gyro isn’t in the Japan mission, because of his significant association with Japan revealed in the season 3, episode 6 episode ‘Astro B.O.Y.D.’! ‘Astro B.O.Y.D’ took place in Japan, which was not only where Gyro suffered a traumatic past that changed him for the worse (his backstory is so good, and explains why he became the embittered, distant, and seemingly arrogant present-day Gyro), but also where he ended up gaining closure about his past, the beautiful beginnings of much-needed character development and healing, and the beautiful beginnings of a relationship with his robot son Boyd at the end of the episode. If Gyro had’ve been in the Japan mission of DuckTales World Showcase Adventure, maybe we could have also gotten a Boyd reference or even a cameo, which would’ve been fantastic because that little guy and his relationship with Gyro are both criminally overlooked.

It turned out that Gyro's role in DuckTales World Showcase Adventure (where he still wasn't given much character development, but was still hilariously snarky as usual XD) was in the France mission instead.

Sooo, no Gyro (or Boyd) in the Japan mission. But surely Akita is the bad guy for that one, right? You know, this guy? Guy responsible for forcing Boyd to be a killer robot and destroying Tokyolk?

I mean, that should've been the obvious choice, right?? Sure, he’s only a one-time villain, but three other one-time villains were brought back for the game to represent their respective nations (Toad Liu Hai for the China mission, the Kelpies for the United Kingdom mission, and Hecka- one of the Valhalla wrestlers the family faced in ‘Rumble for Ragnarok’- for the Norway mission).

Wrong! The villains for the Japan mission were the Beagles and Mark Beaks (which make zero sense), who’d teamed up to steal the Illustrated Scroll of Quackagawa from the temple where it was stored. (More ‘Astro B.O.Y.D.’ erasure, ugh) Turns out Ma Beagle had Beaks design a robot lookalike of Webby to steal the treasure and frame the real Webby at the same time. The plan was for the Beagles to sell Beaks the Scroll so he could “add it to his extensive collection of rare historical manga.” Ok, then…

Well, neither Gyro, Boyd, or Akita were even mentioned in the Japan mission, but we did get one reference to ‘Astro B.O.Y.D.’! A very quick image of Inspector Tezuka (silent recycled footage from that episode) while Dewey was explaining that “local police think that the real Webby took the Scroll because the bot looks exactly like her.” So, that was pretty neat!

Ok, I admit that Fenton was the second-best choice for the Japan mission. Fenton’s role in this mission? Well... once Beaks learned how dangerous the Scroll’s powers were, he stupidly decided to use the robot to activate those powers because “that story would be trending for at least an hour!” So, they needed a “robot expert” to help them stop the robot.

Still, you’d think Gyro would be that robot expert, right? I mean, duh. It’s Gyro, c’mon, who else?! DX All the more reason for him to be in this mission, and they blow it again. It takes place in Japan and involves an evil robot, and they don’t use him??

(At this point, Fenton should have reminded them that Gyro's the real robotics expert)

Well, ok, by “robot expert”, Huey was actually hinting that Fenton could handle it because he’s Gizmoduck (which Dewey clarified)- a superhero in a robotic suit of armor, which would be more than a match for the robot imposter of Webby.  Fair enough, I admit. I mean, Fenton’s role in this does make sense when you consider that. But still… it’s Gyro, man.

Quit squandering all these perfect opportunities to feature him (and Akita), DuckTales team!! DX

And even if Gyro still was banned from Japan at the end of 'Astro B.O.Y.D.' (even tho he was instrumental in saving the day and it was revealed the '2-BO' incident was neither his or Boyd's fault), there was no reason for Akita not to be in the Japan mission!!

Oh, and this post also explains how it was also a missed opportunity for them to reveal Akita ending up in F.O.W.L. in the show.